Making Small Investments

Tammy and I spent a little bit of time at Newton's Cafe in Waterloo for a late lunch.  Why was it late?  Well, things like this are always late because we have to do "just one more thing" before we actually get out of Dodge, so to speak.

In any event, we took a quick trip as one of several small investments we made today with a bigger picture in mind. 

Investment #1 - A late lunch at Newton's Cafe
This little trip was taken as a chance to have one of Newton's fabulous tenderloins, of course.  But, we took along date books so we could make sure we both were aware of appointments for things related to Tammy's job with the college, bird processing dates, farm festivals, 50th wedding anniversaries and whatever sundry things that are a part of our future this Summer.  We also took along the notebooks to try to figure out what things we both felt really needed attention sooner rather than later.  The trick is to attempt to not think about it too long.  Otherwise, our list of "Priority One" items gets to the point that we might as well admit defeat before we begin.

We saw this as an investment towards the success of this season.  It's been a rough start, and you would think we should grind through it every moment of every day.  But, a person's ability to do that is limited.  So, this break was an investment in our upcoming week by buying some direction, some motivation and, most importantly, some perspective. 

Even better, we both feel like we're ready to pull in the same direction.  Usually, the two of us do pretty well at that.  But, when you don't take that moment away to talk about what each person thinks we should have as priorities, you can begin pulling against each other without meaning to.

Investment #2 - Community Garden plot in Waverly
First - if any of you garden in your city yards or in a community garden plot, please do not take anything typed here wrongly.  We're pleased that all of you work with the soil and we aren't making judgements.  What we are doing is contrasting what we experienced today with what we are used to experiencing on the farm.

We actually invested in a 10 foot by 30 foot garden plot in Waverly.  And, today, we planted romanesco and leeks into that plot.  For those unfamiliar to it, romanesco is a light green brassica that looks a little like cauliflower - except for the whorls that come to a point on the head.  And, they taste great.

The question you might ask is - "Why?"

Well, most of our 'plots' are 200 foot by 60 foot.  And, they are all still too wet to do anything.  We asked to see what was available in Waverly and found it was dry enough to work.  We felt like we needed to do something, so we put the money down and went today and planted these two items.  We have 120 families that are investing in us as their personal farmers.  We need to make choices on their behalf.  A choice we made today was to secure some dry ground and get SOMETHING...ANYTHING growing. 

While this may only get a few leeks per person and maybe romanesco for a fraction of our members, it still gets something in the ground and growing.  And, as to why we chose these two items, there are several reasons.  First, leeks and romanesco are very good companions.  Second, both were needing to go into the ground. 

And, third, both are longer season crops.  This may seem odd at first.  After all, if we are behind, shouldn't we plant short season crops to try to get things to people earlier?  Well, maybe, but we have to be in this for the long haul.  Even if we put a few things in this plot that were short season, it would not produce enough to get us going faster.  In fact, we've come to the conclusion that we need to focus on making sure we can go later in the year so we can make up for the late start.  These two items fit that bill.

While this plot, on its own, may not provide enough of either item to give a whole lot to each member, they will contribute.  And, these contributions bring options that have value.  At this point in time, we're happy to have any plot of land working to the positive for us.  

And, we need to budget our time and energy.  Two long season crops can be weeded quickly with short weekly visits.  We don't have to monitor them for harvest until the Fall, at which point, Tammy is back at school.  It was simply the best choice for the way things are at this time.

Investment #3 - Top dressing trays and trays (and trays) of plants
We spent time putting a compost mix on many trays of seedlings today.  It is clear that they must continue as they are longer than we intended them to be in these trays (or pots).  They need food in addition to the water they've been getting.  So, the top dressing of compost mix feeds them and buys a little more time.  This effort is an investment in keeping crops healthy until that moment we can get to the fields and put them in.  We've done this more this year than we ever have.  So far, so good.  But, we'd really like to plant them very soon.

Investment #4 - Weeding a perennial flower bed
At one point in time, Tammy and I were avid perennial flower gardeners.  We still like them very much (especially iris and day lilies).  But, they take a back seat to the vegetables.   However, we try to maintain some beds around the house, but often get discouraged by how quickly they get "ugly." 

We invested some time in weeding one of those beds today. 

Could we have spent more time on farm related things?  Of course we could have.  But, when these beds are maintained, they give us (and others) pleasure.  Happy farmers tend to work better.  Happy farmers tend to keep farming and tend to be able to fight through difficult growing seasons better than unhappy farmers.  So, do perennial flower beds make us happy?

Yes.  When they are maintained.  No.  When they are overgrown.

One of our favorite iris is Proud Tradition.  Tammy did not know it was ready to bloom and Rob found it first.  He cut one stem and kept it out of sight until he could present it to Tammy.  Her reaction was worth every bit of effort.  We are both enjoying that flower in the house now.

Does it make sense?  Maybe not.  Does it have to make sense?  Definitely not.

Consider this:  We spent 2 hours weeding a flower bed.  We traveled to a place for lunch and had a 'farm meeting' together (another 2 hours).   We still completed all of our farm chores, planted more seeds in trays, moved seed trays to various locations for the next stage of hardening off plants, we top dressed a bunch of seedling trays, we planted romanesco and leeks, picked up some materials from a generous person who thought of us when they had extra they wanted to get rid of, started preparation for workers that arrive tomorrow AM, washed towels we use for veg, cleaned out some containers and got them put away and cleaned out the truck...twice.   It may be a shorter list than some days, but we hardly consider it a failure.